Kiwi the first woman to be groundskeeper at Lord's

After heading to the UK on her OE without much of a plan Kiwi Meg Lay has ended up as a grounds-person at Lord's Cricket Ground making her the first woman to work in the role in the ground's 200 year history Photo: Supplied/Meg Lay

Like many young people heading away on an overseas experience, Meg Lay did not know what she wanted to do for a career.

Now, Lay is the first woman to be a groundskeeper at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London since it opened in 1814.

She told RNZ it had been "a bit of a whirlwind" since she moved to England three years ago.

Lay grew up on her grandparents' farm in Canterbury and had played cricket her whole life.

"For some reason I never connected the dots until I went over to England", she told Summer Weekends.

It began in Bristol, where Lay had first moved, while she was living with professional cricket players.

"They came home from training one day and said the ground staff were really short.

"I thought if they're that desperate then maybe they might want me to give them a hand, and yeah, they didn't ask me to leave, so I was there for a couple of years before getting my job at Lord's."

Lay said she was a "massive fan" of cricket and loved working on the farm where she grew up in Irwell.

Lord's Cricket Ground during the Ashes in 2023. Photo: Getty Images

"To be able to combine those two things, I thought it would be the dream job.

"I didn't know what I was going to do over in England, I just knew that I needed a change.

"I thought I might have ended up working behind a bar or something, but for something so perfect and so well-suited to me to just pop up like that, it was an opportunity that I definitely couldn't miss out on."

Lay said she had "never had a bad day at work".

"I love the people I work with, I love the job, I love cricket.

"I wish I knew about it sooner. I'm 28 now, I wish I'd known when I was 18 leaving school that this was a career path."

However, she admitted there was a "lot of pressure".

"I don't think there's a more scrutinised 22 yards in world sport, to be honest, than the pitch at Lord's."

Lay said all 10 people on the team work seven days a week over summer: "It's full on, big hours."

As for what the future holds, Lay hoped to be able to come back home to New Zealand.

"I mean, ultimately, how can you go past Lord's? It's the home of cricket and I absolutely love it.

"But I'd love to come home one day. Hagley Oval is certainly on my radar. That would definitely be the dream.

"But I wouldn't say no to doing a quick six months in Barcelona or something on the way home."